Formal Contract Procedure

All supplies and contractual services, except otherwise provided herein, when the estimated cost thereof exceeds fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) shall be purchased by formal, written contract from the lowest and best responsible bidder, after due notice inviting proposals. The notice inviting bids shall:

Be published twice in at least one official newspaper in the City

Include a general description of the items to be purchased or sold

State where bid blanks and specifications can be secured

State the date, time and place for opening bids

The sealed bids shall be opened in public at the date, time and place stated in the notice inviting bids. A tabulation of all bids receive shall be available upon request.

The purchase of supplies and contractual services, when the cost thereof exceeds ten thousand dollars ($10,000), shall not require formal bidding but must be approved by Council resolution.

The purchase of petroleum products shall be an exception to this procedure. The purchase of petroleum based products may be done by informal competitive quotes and without Council approval.

All purchases of supplies and contractual services and all sales of personal property, of the estimated value of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) or less, shall be made in the open market, without newspaper advertisement and without observing the formal contract procedure. All open market purchases shall whenever possible be based upon competitive quotes and shall be awarded to the lowest and best responsible vendor.